I’m not calling anyone out in particular, I’m just going to say this as a general word of warning: let’s try to keep the comments less racially-charged and less name-cally. I’m not mad, I just don’t think this Paula Deen issue should divide everyone. Even I’m not immune – CB and I were discussing it yesterday and we disagreed on some aspects of the situation too. But no name-calling, mmkay? So, let’s get to the latest stuff. As we discussed yesterday, Paula has been fired from The Food Network after she admitted a slew of racist acts in a deposition in a civil case. Following the news of the deposition, Paula’s crisis management was extremely lacking, and she abruptly canceled a Today Show appearance and she couldn’t even get her act together enough to release one good apology video. So, the Food Network fired her and now, just like I said, the rest of her empire is crumbling. A QVC spokesperson is now saying that Paula’s QVC deals are in danger too:

Another serving of drama may be coming for Paula Deen, who could lose more deals on the heels of her firing from the Food Network.

A representative for the shopping network QVC, which sells her cookware, released a statement Sunday to PEOPLE that expressed “concerns [over] the unfortunate Paula Deen situation,” adding, “QVC does not tolerate discriminatory behavior.”

Following the celebrity chef’s admission that she used a racial slur in the past, the network is “closely monitoring these events and the ongoing litigation,” continues the representative’s statement, which was first reported by TMZ. “We are reviewing our business relationship with Ms. Deen, and in the meantime, we have no immediate plans to have her appear on QVC.”

Deen, 66, issued a statement less than 24 hours after the Food Network announced on Friday it was dropping the longtime star.

“I have had the pleasure of being allowed into so many homes across the country and meeting people who have shared with me the most touching and personal stories,” she said. “This would not have been possible without the Food Network. Thank you again. Love and best dishes to all of y’all.”

Deen also has a book, titled Paula Deen’s New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up, due to arrive in stores this October. Her publisher, Random House, Inc., has not cancelled her contract. However, a spokesman for Random House, whose imprints include Ballantine Books, tells PEOPLE, “We are monitoring the situation closely.”

Deen’s cookware is also sold at Target, Sears, Walmart, J. C. Penney, and Kmart. Last January, she announced a partnership with Novo Nordisk when she revealed she has type 2 diabetes. The drug maker is standing by her.

“Paula Deen’s still a product spokesperson for the Victoza brand. We recognize the seriousness of these allegations and will follow the legal proceedings closely, staying in contact with her. As a company committed to improving the lives of people with diabetes, Novo Nordisk engaged Deen as a spokeswoman because of Paula’s commitment to increasing awareness about diabetes to millions of people in this country.”

And they aren’t the only ones watching the situation. Sears Holdings told PEOPLE late Sunday that “the company is currently exploring next steps as they pertain to Ms. Deen’s products.”

If I take this situation out of its racially-charged packaging, it’s still just a clusterwhoops of bad management. I will give Paula some free advice: start scheduling interviews now. Sit down with Gayle King, with Oprah, with Al Roker, with Piers Morgan and Diane Sawyer. Do a full-on apology tour. Explain yourself, apologize profusely and be honest. Then, settle the civil case. If you don’t settle, the litigation is going to drip out for the next year and there will be more and more revelations and it will just get worse. Next, triage and save what you can of your empire. The Food Network shows are gone, for sure, but that’s not rock-bottom. Ugh, I can’t believe I’m advising her, but I literally believe that NO ONE is telling her this stuff.

Also – there’s a “Support Paula Deen” Facebook page and it’s already gotten more than 220,000 likes. Which is impressive, but… I hope Paula doesn’t think that’s going to save her butter, you know?

I’ve been deliberately avoiding this story since it first made news but now I have to say something. I am a black woman. I’ve never used the n-word to describe those of my race because I find it offensive. It is just as offensive as all the other derogatory words used against other races. I also detest using racially-charged derogatory phrases. Having said that, there are a few poignant issues stemming from this story.

1. Paula Deen has no concept of shame. She does not see herself in the wrong. As far as she is concerned, these words, ideas and “jokes” are normal everyday language in her world. It is reminiscent of a man taking advantage of woman because he thought that as long as she doesn’t scream “NO!” then it’s not rape. Mrs Deen’s lack of awareness is strengthened by her rabid fans some of whom are equally lack the same awareness.

2. There are idiots of the black race who use these very words and phrases to insult fellow blacks and/or use them as everyday language or in songs. Because of this, people of other races may not find them offensive if they are used by people of African descent. In Rush Hour 2, Chris Tucker’s character walks into a club filled with only black people and greeted them with “What’s up, my n*ggers?”. They all acknowledged him and he moved on. Jackie Chan’s character did the same and it sparked a fight. Although this was a movie, I doubt it’s far from what happens in real life.

Finally, I’d like to say that I have friends of ALL RACES. I respect everyone’s rights, cultures and personal beliefs. While I am not that naïve in thinking that everyone should feel the same, I can only hope that others are fully conscious of their words and actions.

Kitten-it figures, no? She is a fur wearer too. There is NOTHING redeeming about this woman.

I wrote QVC as well as the Food network. May she crawl back into the butter soaked hole she came from.

I watched the interview where she is talking about her poor family losing all their slaves in the war and having to support the plantation by themselves. Then she says prejudice is not as bad in the South because they were so close to their black “workers”. Then she introduces her assistant by asking him to step forward because he is not visible against the black backdrop!

I thought the same. I was for sure thinking early-to-mid-70′s. My mom is 61 (is not stick thin), lives in Carolina, and her skin is a bit weathered because she plays so much golf and she looks light years better than paula. Maybe its the racoon eyeliner, orange face and years of carrying extra weight, the smoking, the never having to say you’re sorry to butter or perhaps all of the bitch but she looks haggered.

@ Tiffany–that’s possible. I thought I read her saying “I’ve known my brother for 66 years” and another time stating she was 7 years older. Hence, she could not have known him 66 years if that is how old she is. But maybe she’s just really bad at math. lol

She had her 15 minutes of fame, time to step away from the spotlight. The world will survive without her brand of whatever crap she’s selling and unless her financial management is as bad as her PR management she’ll be fine, too. Buh-bye.

Yes, but I feel bad for the people who are employed through her businesses. People who are making and transporting her stuff (as well as selling it) are possibly going to lose their jobs. And small businesses that have contracts with her products could take serious hits. And they didn’t do anything wrong – it was her.

she should have been the one who felt responsible for all those people and their jobs and livelihood, and she should have behaved accordingly.that’s what a responsible business person would do – take care of her brand and all those who make it, promote it, sell it, etc.

Not to mention the small companies who hold the licenses to produce her product lines. For many of them, she is their main source of income. If Walmart drops her, it could put some of those companies out of business.

This is a disaster for many people. She has caused a lot of collateral damage that hopefully can be somewhat undone – if she can get her act together and make a sincere apology tour.

I agree, but the reason this was an issue at all because it was HOW she was running her businesses. If she was being a private racist in her home, she wouldn’t have been sued.

She was an employer and accused of having different standards, bathrooms, entrances, etc. for employees depending on their race and using racist language in the workplace. Hopefully that didn’t trickle down to the other elements involved in her product production (and affect salaries, hiring, etc.).

She’s racist AND fake! I was a big fan. I found out through this whole mess that her first kitchen wasn’t even her kitchen. That adorable yellow Lab that was always sleeping or getting scraps from Paula- NOT even her dog! That early image of her was my hold out when she started going Hollywood with the fakest, whitest looking teeth, etc. I can’t even believe her (and her Facebook apologists) racism.
I am done with her.

Ohhhhhh, and she had most of her kitchen support staff, dishwashers, table busseres, basic prep…. Brought into the restaurant from a transitional work release home (housing for those who have almost completed their prison sentence, but are taking steps in a controlled environment to put together a fresh start). I remember talking to her son, Jamie and remarking that it was great work experience in a high profile place and what percentage did they end up hiring when they were officially finished with their sentence and ready to join the work force.

After chuckling and telling me they felt a great deal of “civic pride” but the small amount that they were being paid in comparison to regular workers gave them “personal pride”. In the two years that I worked at The Lady & Sons they hired 2 men out of that program. 2 out at least 50.

From week one my rose colored glasses were off. So much inappropriate activity from all of the owners in the beginning, and the lawsuit accusations are tame compared to what most of us saw and experienced working there. I don’t what to use this to sensationalize the impropriety at the heart of the Deen empire, but they themselves set the very low standards for behavior and conduct within their businesses. Why would someone continue to work there? For me it was by far the most steady paying gig in town and I was putting myself through a school with a high tuition. But it opened my eyes to the farce of celebrity, which allows me to enjoy this site to the fullest.

Ohhhhhh, an she had most of her kitchen support staff; dishwashers, table bussers, food prep…brought into the restaurant from a transitional work release home (housing for those who have almost completed their prison sentence, but are taking steps in a controlled environment to get a fresh start). I remember talking to her son Jamie and remarking that it was great work experience in a high profile place. Then I asked what percentage they ended up hiring when they were officially finished and ready to join the work force.

The response: Long chuckle and stating that they did feel some “civic pride”, but the same amount that they were required to pay in comparison to regular workers gave them more in the way of “personal pride”.

In the two years that I worked at The Lady & Sons they hired 2 men from that program. 2 out of at least 50.

So, from about week two, my rose-colored glasses were off. There was so much inappropriate activity from all of the owners in the beginning, I can say without hesitation that the lawsuit accusations are pretty tame compared to what most of us saw and experienced working there. I don’t want to sensationalize the impropriety at the heart of the Deen empire, but they themselves set the very low standards for behavior and conduct within their businesses. Why would someone continue to work there? For me, it was by far the most steadiest paying gig in town, and I was putting myself through a school with a very high tuition. And I knew that the line of people who wanted my job was similar in length to the line of patrons who waited eagerly in hot son to eat a glorified version of Golden Corral’s buffet. And Golden Corral has quadruple the variety. And soft serve ice cream. Anyway, it opened my eyes to the farce of “celebrity” , which allows me to enjoy this delicious site to the fullest:)

Yes and since she had those teeth done , she grins all the time. Squinting that nose to get that big grin. She looks better with her mouth closed. I remember when she first started out , I liked her , but she got rich and famous and went Hollywood. Now I can’t stand Paula Deen.
But I really think she will come out of this in better shape than before. Using a little Southern phrase , “she got too big for her breeches “

Pre-cisely! If she doesn’t have a big wad of dough (and not the fried kind) put away by now, then she never will and she’s been unconscionably stupid. Time to retire, Paula, and try to do so with some dignity, if possible.

I just read some of the deposition.. racism is just ONE head on the messed up monster of that thing!! I hope Ms. Jackson gets EVRYTHING from the Deens, I hope they go back and compensate the employees for all the sexist, physically violent and racist things that happened.

I feel terrible for Ms. Jackson’s experience.. the dread she felt when Budda Dean would show up to work and he’d be on his way to becoming loaded by showing up with a Styrofoam cup full of whiskey…

If you can find the deposition online, it is just horribly shocking.

Yesterday, I thought this woman had probably started another scandal that people would forget, and she’d inevitably (and unfortunately ) be back.. but no, I now believe the Deen company should be guillotined.

NOW, after reading that deposition, I would actually take issue with anyone supporting them in any way

I’m glad. Honestly hope she loses everything. Racism is not ok, I don’t care how cavalier or casual the racist is. I don’t care how old the racist is. The woman wanted to have a plantation themed wedding. This is a woman who wants to reminisce about a time in which black people were treated little better than animals. She is getting what she deserves.

That is my big is my big issue with this what she said and did is vile, racist, hateful and pathetic and you can tell she doesn’t think any of it is or should matter!! I mean it’s like she feels she is perfectly right her behavior and beliefs. She comes across like she is the victim of big old bullies when she is the the person who is wrong.

I can’t believe I ever liked her, of course I didn’t know any of this but still hate that I supported her show.

Not on is racism is not. Ok for Paula Deen,I get so sick of watching her run. Behind all those young men. On those cooking shows.she be trying to rub up on them.The only man that can handle her is dan on qvc and she try to come on to him to.

She obviously really doesn’t get it. She’s here on a panel talking about slavery and refers to her friend as “black as a board” and brings him up on stage to show him off. See…I have black friends. Also, southern era should get more credit. Since historically they grew up around slaves, they’re more comfortable having black people in their homes. WTF!http://youtu.be/Qt9CImZW2pA

Serves her right! Welcome to the 21st century: you get more freedom and possibilities, but also more responsibility over what you do and say. So either you watch your mouth and learn respect, or you run it like an idiot and go sulk in a corner because you’re missunderstood.

You also have to think, who are those 220,000 likes coming from? Do you want your fan base to consist of people who would defend a person who uses racist language because secretly they feel the same? If she accepts their “likes” and doesn’t condemn them it rebrands her as a racist consequentially. I agree she needs to step in front of this if she really means what she said in the three apology videos she’s made. Sit down with an actual interviewer and explain herself.

I had an FB friend post about her (I won’t go into details but she is a family friend)-she was defending her and linked to an article on a local news site.

I clicked on the link and made the mistake of reading the hundreds of supportive comments underneath the article. It was really upsetting. I had to come over here to “cleanse” my mind. I’m not sure if Kaiser and the gals are doing much moderating but at least the overwhelming majority of posters here aren’t defending her racist rants. Then again, the commenters on this site are smarter than average.

The number of commenters defending her elsewhere is mind boggling. People seem to think that this is all stemming from her having used the n-word in the past and that is the only reason that she was let go. Even Bill Maher defended her a little saying that she grew up in the south during Jim Crow and that we don’t always have to make people go away when they make a mistake. Paula is not being guided well through this, but she also has a lot of support and I bet her people are banking on that.

I was going to post myself about the “Support Paula Deen” comments in various places. What especially angered me is how they attacked anybody who even SLIGHTLY was against Paula. The vitriol was deeply disturbing. Naturally, it got political and how it was pretty much the liberals’ fault, the president’s fault….maybe my fault and I’m just sitting here. But it got ugly racial, with nasty name calling and “dog whistle” comments toward “them” and “they.” This country is very divided and this Paula Deen thing is really a touch stone for the polarization. Paula herself needs to stand up and tell her very rabid fans to chill. Maybe we all need to chill and make it a teaching moment. Somehow I doubt that is gonna happen. Sad. (Now I DO want to personally beat her with a rolling pin for wearing fur! I have a fur, too. I think it is sleeping under the bed as any good fur should. I think I will feed the fur…my baby boy!)

While I am in support of taking Paula Deen to task, as I was thinking about this over the weekend, it just made me sad that some people get more worked up over things like this than they do when politicians do legit stupid things that have a huge impact on lives.

Yeah I’ve been wondering why the Snowden affair, with it’s exposé of the biggest surveillance network in history, is not as important or as inflammatory to many people as some nutty cooking star saying a racial slur “in the past” (as she said).

It’s not just about her using a racial slur in the past. She’s also being sued for making the black employees use separate bathrooms/entrances at her restaurant and wanting to dress them up like slaves, but it’s no big deal because she’s not a politician, right?

I think the point here was that, while what she allegedly did is a big deal, the Snowden affair is a much bigger one. Why is a televised cook racism more important to most than a government, a country spying on every internet using citizen nationally and internationally ?

I can understand your feelings, but think about it this way: the government almost always follows the feelings of the majority of the people. Government almost never leads – they confine us to what the majority considers to be acceptable.

By caring and reacting to things like this, you’re defining the parameters for what government needs to care about. I want the govt and marketplace to care about racism. I want them to think twice about trying to get my money while using words like **gg**.

Because this is easier to understand. That’s why. There is clearly a good guy and a bad guy. Political scandals tend to be more complex with a more convoluted history. Trying just to figure out what exactly happened in the first place is often a huge challenge.

i guess i need to go back and read why this is coming out big now when it was reported a while ago.
then see what sort of crazy crazy people would EVEN DARE defend this POS embarrassment to anyone with a southern accent, a brain, a modicum of decency or any respect for humanity.

The deposition was in May, but just filed in court this past week, I believe. I guess that’s why it’s just now a story. Until the depo was filed, it look looked more like a sexual harassment in the workplace suit (due to the pOrn-watching allegations).

thanks for clarifying @ the deposition.
when i read about it last year, the harassment charge loomed large but the details of the racism were definitely there as well, down to the dress-up of the servers. maybe everyone thought the sexual harassment part was more believable?
it outraged me then because her allegations of racism were easily provable. you can’t hire a bunch of people, dress them up like house slaves, and expect nobody to remember.
to me, it sounded like a 100% legitimate law suit by an employee that put up with a lot of very bad sh¡t for a very long time and reached her breaking point.

is it not 100% crazy and telling the deens didn’t settle this out of court?
they are AWFUL -they don’t think what they did was wrong and that’s why they didn’t just settle quietly.
they don’t think being racist and making employees partake in their racism is racist, they don’t think watching porn in the company of a female employee is sexual harassment. for them, using racial slurs are A-ok as long as you’re not being “mean”.
she’s never going to be sorry enough because she isn’t sorry. in her mind, she and her son did NOTHING wrong.

Luckily she never had her waitstaff dress up that way, that I know of. She considered it, but decided not to because of the potential media backlash. Not that I’m excusing her – at all. It’s still awful to think dressing people as slaves would be cute, but at least that was one humiliation that wasn’t thrust on her employees. There were enough other inappropriate things they were subjected to, unfortunately.

If you check out the Food Network page, its pretty depressing. 80% of the comments are in support of her.

Last year, she made 9 million from her restaurants,endorsement deals, and kitchenware. Even if QVC and Food network drops her-she’ll still have the sausage company and the diabetes meds deal. Sadly, I doubt it will even make a dent in her empire.

And at that, I wouldn’t be too sure about the diabetes med deal. African Americans statistically have a higher rate of diabetes than a number of other ethnicities, and it would be a bad PR move to keep her as a spokesperson at this point, considering. (Also, from my perspective, it’s offensive to me as well. I’m not black, I just don’t like racists, period.)

This is not a comment on what she did…her actions are beyond reprehensible and she should be punished financially and morally.
However, that doesn’t negate the sympathy I feel for the many people (and their families) who’s jobs are in jeopardy. This reaches far beyond her company.

@Masque – not really. i mean, you can pretty sue for anything, but getting somewhere with it is another story. i think the best businesses connected to her can do is drop her line, but i don’t think they can sue for money they’re not going to make b/c she imploded her own brand. as for class actions, those have gotten something of a bad name b/c these days tend to involve thousands of plaintiffs who don’t even know they are plaintiffs against, say, a credit card company, for some obscure cause of action. if won, the plaintiffs counsel gets millions of dollars and you get one of those things in the mail that says you are entitled to a penny from citibank or something. she may be sue-able by companies/brands she’s had existing relationships with, like ones she does ads for, for misrepresenting herself and tarnishing their brand.

She is loaded. She could, you know, not be selfish and actually help those people out with funds as they transition elsewhere. But at least some of those people had to know who she really was and worked with her anyway. To those people, oh well.

Before Paula Deen goes on that apology tour, I think she needs some kind of counseling to help her to understand that this “boys will be boys”/”Southerners will be Southerners” attitude where unacceptable language and images are OK as long as the person is just joking is actually wrong. She needs to understand that there isn’t a context in which her use, or her husband’s use, or her brother’s use of those words and images is OK. I don’t think she gets that yet and it seems like she’s more resentful of the PC Police railroading her out of a job.

People who do good for other people (and I’m sure she’s done good for some people) are not and should not be immune from criticism for being prejudiced. It doesn’t seem like she gets that. It doesn’t seem like she gets that she IS prejudiced, and that prejudice manifested itself in illegal ways in a workplace that she owns. So before the apology tour, she needs to understand the legitimacy of the case against her and she needs to own up to her attitude being unacceptable.

If she doesn’t take care of that first, her apology tour will be hollow, pointless, and worthless.

I don’t hate the woman or anything but it seems to me the most important thing here is education. Not to sound too much like Miss Utah or anything.

ITA. Deen being totally honest right now would only get her in more trouble because she doesn’t yet understand in a real way why people are upset.

This won’t happen, but this whole thing could be put to good use if Deen did receive some education about white privilege and the perspectives of people of color. Then she could apologize from a possibly more sincere place of “Oh wow, I didn’t realize what I didn’t get about racism.”

I agree whole heartedly, however I also agree that it’s an improbable scenario. It makes me physically ill when an individual judges another with such irrational, ignorant, hateful “logic”, be it a race issue, sexuality issue, etc.
Deen needs to admit her failings, apologize profusely for her willful ignorance and then STFU letting her future (hopefully MUCH enlightened and improved)actions speak for themselves.
I’m never going to believe anything that falls out of her mouth again, when one fucks up this spectacularly – and then further attempts to justify such behavior, one will have to PROVE the authenticity of the efforts and base motivations of their atonement and rehabilitation.
I do not believe Deen is up to – or even interested in – this task. And frankly, such is her loss and our gain, evolution does not hold a place for those who seek active regression with pride.
*stepping off my soap box* Sorry for the rant y’all, I apparently needed to vent my disgust for this genetic aberration more than I thought.

I’ve been doing some family tree business and I was shocked that my Great, Great, Great Grandfather, on my mother’s side, was a slave owner. My Great Grandmother (1888- 1990)felt that some slaves were treated kindly, like family, but was aware of other slave owners being cruel.

I felt a wave of shame knowing my family had at some point in time “owned” someone. Hideous. But then for my Great Grandmother, who was a soft, sweet, gentle soul, to say the former slave known as Aunt Mary was treated kindly? This is the world that Paula Deen inhabits. Where crap like that exists. It’s insidious and evil and I’m glad it’s being rooted out one Paula Deen and John Galliano at a time.

I know that that’s the way they grew up believed these things sincerely, but I come close to defenestrating myself when I hear that ‘treated kindly’ bullshit. You owned people, get your brain checked because you’re not good at thinking and feel free to get the hell out of my way.

I may have more of a bias against this stuff than some other posters. I can’t pretend that I have an interest in being diplomatic, that would just be dishonest. We all have our thresholds.

Well said, Flutters. She doesn’t get the harm she may of caused and the general harm caused by her attitude. She’s still all about the harm she thinks has been done to her with a rather facile series of apologies.

I think those who are excusing and supporting her behavior really need to hear her understand and condemn the bad behavior.

To a certain degree, I think she’s a coward. She won’t stand up to the men in her life and tell them that is okay.

On the other hand, I haven’t finished the deposition (it’s so long) but there are references to her making inappropriate sexual jokes while working as well. I’ll be interested to see if that is clarified but I doubt it will be as she pretty much answers as little as possible during most of the parts I’ve read so far.

That’s the bit that got me too. That she just assumes that everyone is as racist as her speaks volumes about her.
It’s similar to all the commenters who are saying things like “oh come on, you’ve all used racial slurs at some point too”. Actually no, a lot of people really haven’t.

While I think it ~might~ be possible everyone has said a racist word once in their life (granted, the one and only time I said the n-word was after hearing it on the school bus and repeating it as a question to my big brother. Next thing I know, he was sitting on my chest in a panic saying “NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN OR MOM WILL KILL ~ME~” which pretty much settled things for me honestly) the blankly implied “Well, everyone thinks like me” comment seriously made me itch.

ARE there honestly folks who think everyone else on the planet thinks just like them? Really? Must be one heck of an all encompassing fuzzy blanket that woman keeps her brain wrapped in.

I haven’t either. It just shows how common this thought process is, and how the fans believe it is “normal”. And for an extra dose of FU, some blame it on rap stars, like they came up with the word in the first place. Like if rap people didn’t use it, poor poor Paula wouldn’t have either. Like she listens to rap. Get a grip.

@TheOriginalKitten and Kiddo, I haven’t either. I remember being taught from a very young age that I should under no circumstances use that word or face severe punishment.

The comment/excuse I saw a lot of in the other stories covering this was “let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” as if since we have all committed sins of one sort or another we shouldn’t condemn Deen for this “transgression.”

..and I’m not trying to make the issue about white people but it sucks that some of us get lumped in with the annoyingly vocal racist a-holes because we share the same skin color. I guess it just comes down to owning the fact that a sh*tload of white folks are racist.

Anyway, I know the point has been made innumerable times but if Deen was saying the n-word to her white friends but not to a black person’s face then she obviously had an awareness that the word is offensive, so save the “she’s from a different time, she’s just ignorant, not hateful” bullsh*t for someone dumb enough to believe it.

Unfortunately, yes would have been a much better answer. I think the thing people are forgetting is that, although wrong, she *did* grow up in a different time. I highly doubt she is a racist Ahole. I’m glad this country is taking racism seriously…but can we start with someone other then a food network star? Lol I mean we have racial slurs being said about our president from other political entities. Lets start there.

@SW While I think it is generous of you to try to be fair about this situation, the whole of Paula’s life has taken place in a time when the N-word was recognized as hurtful and derogatory. Her claiming ignorance is a big fat lie.

Most of her supporters are rabidly defending her because she used the N word and (some) Blacks also use the N word. They fail to understand that other parts of the deposition/allegations were even more troubling. How can you defend someone who wanted to throw an event with the servers dressed in slave era attire. And someone who calls slaves “workers”. That’s just weird and shows someone who longs for the good ol days of slavery.

Also, this whole “Paula’s freedom of speech is being taken away. She has the right to use the N word”. Yes, she has freedom of speech but she must also accept consequences from that speech. Freedoms are not absolute.

That’s what gets me. People are defending her because they think she is being “witch hunted” for having said racial slurs in the past. People don’t seem to understand there is a lot more to this situation!

Allow me to be almost nauseatingly condescending for a second: a pretty huge segment of Americans don’t seem to have any understanding of what this ‘Freedom Of Speech’ thing is all about. It’s almost as though they’ve never heard of Congress outside of the ‘What about Obama?’ fits. It’s more condescending because I’m not American, but dammit, I shouldn’t have to say that you should know what things are before you reference them. I mean, I haven’t read the Twilight series, but I know it’s in there.

Oh, Oprah: YOU BETTER DON’T!!!! I do think she’s smarter than that, though. I could maybe see her giving Deen the ‘I feel duped’ rundown, but I don’t see how playing Empress Of Black People Bestowing Benevolent Forgiveness To The Fallen would be beneficial to her brand.

Paula should just retire she should have a tonne of money by now. I don’t think anything is going to help her she said and did what she did and now she is paying. You can’t use such a silly excuse it was just wrong and now she really understands it…hopefully.

I believe in RESPONSIBILITY, especially the personal kind. I also believe that there are clear consequences to her racist actions, these contracts being dropped are some. Having said that, I also believe that a person can change but he/she must really, sincerely want it and to do so through clear action. If Ms. Deen was sincere, she would have apologized and take concrete action to enroll herself in counseling, education on racism, discrimination or whatever to show she is willing to learn from her mistake and wants to change, she can then even write about her lessons learned.. There are many problems in the world, including race/discrimination, but seriously, the lack of acceptance/understanding of personal responsibility is also a key issue. Ppl tend to try to pin their responsibility on something else, she blamed it on a time period, a culture etc. Enough already.

What a mess for Paula Deen! I believe she is guilty of having the typical Southerner’s attitude towards Black people and of having a horrible PR team. She’s a hard worker but not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I truly hope this will all start a national dialogue on this whole bigotry thing and the attitudes of “the South” on the Civil War and slavery. Every time I visit a state in the South, somebody has to bring up the Civil War and me being a Yankee, etc. They can’t seem to get over it! Can they really say that slavery was good!? They need to quit glamorizing that whole era, quit flying their Confederate flags, and admit they are wrong! I know it’s not every Southerner that is bigoted just as I know there are people all over the USA that are bigoted.

Paula is from the south and is a traditional southern woman. I am not defending her behavior, but think about how she was raised. I agree about the PR advice, it’s critical she gets out in front of this NOW.

please do not insult women -traditional, southern or otherwise. people that think it is ok to use that word are straight out racists and should be labeled accordingly.
please just say she’s an old school racist. that’s exactly what she is and people will completely understand what you’re saying.
apologies, this was meant to be posted in response to molly.
ita agree with you faye

THIS…besides the fact that she is a VERY public figure who has made money off of black people buying into her fake-ass image. So black people were great if they were padding her wallet but behind their backs she didn’t hesitate to refer to them as n-words. How do people not see how f*cked up that is????

This isn’t an instance where some 90 year old woman living in seclusion is using the n-word (which STILL wouldn’t be “ok”, guys, but at least somewhat more understandable) this is someone who has plenty of exposure to people of different races. She’s not living under a rock, she has NO EXCUSE to think using the racial slurs are acceptable. Not to mention the fact that she romanticized slavery.

It drives me crazy that people keep blaming her behavior on circumstance or geography.

I can only conclude that a lot of the people who are siding with her are people who have probably used that word before, which is why they don’t see anything wrong with it.

Amen. Raised in the South and this is NOT acceptable to most people and I’ve worked with many people from various economic and educational backgrounds. I don’t know anyone who condones this horrible behavior. I can only think maybe she thought her status and cooking empire entitled her and her family to behave this way. They are not just racist and insensitive but phenomenally stupid.

She is absolutely deferential to men. That comes across loud and clear in the deposition. I think that is a big part of why she is defending her brother so vigorously. My mom is much the same way.

However, that doesn’t mean she’s nice. If it was a women who was accused by a man, if she’s anything like my mother, that woman would be crucified by Paula. This isn’t a southern thing. This is something else.

It is driving me nuts to see working women defend her when she created and enjoyed a workplace clearly hostile to minorities and women. We’ve worked too hard (and have more work to do) to stand by this behavior.

Does anyone else think “Ursula the Sea Witch” with that fur coat pic? No? Just me?

I disagree that an apology tour will help. It’s not like one little slip-up. How do you come back from making people dress up as slaves?!!#@$

The only people I feel sorry for are employees who may lose jobs. She had her moment in the spotlight and made plenty of money off of it. Then she ruined it by acting the way she did. I don’t think she deserves a second chance.

This can’t be fixed.. The apology tour will make things worse! I don’t think she still realizes how wrong this was? I’m not defending her, but she grew up in a different era in the deep south. I’m sure this is just the beginning of lawsuits coming her way. She’s lost everything.

I’ll be the first to defend someone whom I feel the media is making a mountain out of a molehill about, but in this case, after reading the facts, it is just a shame that she was unable to control her mouth in that setting back in 2007. What the heart truly feels will eventually come out of your mouth. And in my opinion, this is a sign of someone who is “too big for her britches” and needed to be knocked down a notch or two – as we say in the South. Maybe she’ll think before she opens her mouth in the future. This is a hard lesson in the court of public opinion but I guarantee it will deliver a kinder, gentler Paula Deen…at least in public.

I couldn’t stand her ‘shucks, y’all’ fakery from the beginning. And now it’s found out that she threw around the n word. Dumb, dumb, DUMB! Sorry, Paula hunny. Your wallet is about to take a whale of a beating, and well deserved too. Glad I didn’t buy anything she’d been hawking.

No. No. No. Speaking as a crisis comms consultant, going on an apology tour now is 100% the wrong thing to do. She has no grounds to sound contrite at the moment. If I were advising her:

1. Absolutely settle the suit now. The thing that came through most clear to me when I read her deposition was that she was in incredible denial about her brother being such a nightmare in the workplace. Her entrenched racism came through as well but no where near as loud. The statement put out about settling the lawsuit should be along the line of admitting denial and taking time away to do a lot of soul searching.

2. She needs to enroll in a few sensitivity classes and actively engage the people she disparages to learn a new perspective and understand how hurtful and inappropriate her attitudes are in the modern age.

3. THEN she can go on a media tour to talk about what she has learned. A reformed, seen the light racist is easier to forgive than one who is merely making excuses for themselves because they are sad they got caught.

Yeah. Speaking purely from a professional standpoint (my personal one is that she is absolute trash), the key to successful comms of any kind is the ability to own the narrative. That is impossible for her to do right now. This story has a life of its own and the only option open to her is reactive and defensive (a very weak position to be in because you have no control).

The world loves a good redemption story though. And, handled smartly (which I doubt will happen), it is absolutely possible for her to come out on top. It isn’t going to happen this week or even this year though. And it isn’t going to happen without a real and demonstrable change in her attitude.

Yes! That denial is so clear in the deposition. Everyone who says her brother is doing all this stuff is either lying or gullible and she knows her brother (even though she didn’t know he was doing cocaine before going to rehab) and he wouldn’t do this. Plus she wasn’t there to witness it so she doesn’t know if it did happen.

@Mich-I completely agree with everything you’ve said. And if she ever does take a sensitivity class, I hope she is ready to just shut her mouth, stop the excuses, and truly learn how to be respectful and tolerant to people who are different from her.

This morning, an African-American oyster cook who formerly worked at one of Paula Deen’s restaurants came forward and said that during his time there from 2008 to 2010, Deen regularly made him and other black employees work the parties on her Savannah estate without pay. Instead, they were compensated with beer.

“Paula and Bubba just gave us beer and alcohol and I don’t even drink. It was insulting and unfair. I was like, ‘Pay me!’

She knew I had just gotten married. I had a baby on the way. I needed the money and I was the only one to step up and complain over it because half of the kitchen just needed their jobs. I was fired over it in the end because I’m not afraid to speak my mind.”

She also allegedly threatened their jobs at the restaurant if they declined to work the parties. Oh, and one “family member” referred to one black employee as “my little monkey.” Jesus Christ.

i worked in a lot of restaurants when i was young and i’ve seen a lot of employees taken advantage of. i hope some of these other abuses get some attention too because maybe other restaurant owners and managers will get the message. when i was young, if the employer messed around with your pay, your only remedy was to go to the Wage and Hour Board. if they chose to investigate, it took several months as they have a lot of cases. the employee was unlikely to get compensated but the owner was fined.

Ever since she first hit the scene, word spread fast that her LIVE kitchen demos were very off-color and not anything like her TV shows. People complained back then, but FN never did anything about it. They let her continue as long as it made them money.

But now that FN has squeezed as much money as they possibly could out of her & her family, all of a sudden they’re offended by her behavior.

I don’t know how much freedom she has to settle the suit at this point. I can’t imagine why it wasn’t settled with a gag order before. Must be she’s got Cousin Lumpy representing her or something. The people bringing the suit have no obligation to settle and they’ve now got ginormous public opinion on their side and a nationally “tainted” jury pool. If she settles now, it’ll cost her a hell of a let than it would have to do so before, likely same with if it goes to a jury. I don’t see how this doesn’t affect the one son’s show – - the one who makes the less fat versions of her food – - he has her on every episode!

I totally agree. She obviously loves her brother very much and flat out didn’t believe what her advisers were trying to tell her about him. It was a real ‘they are out to get us’ response.

The example of when her brother assaulted a member of his kitchen staff was really illuminating. She totally believes his telling of the story (in which he did nothing wrong). Unfortunately for her, it sounds like there is video evidence of what actually transpired as well as several witness verifications of the assault.

Explain yourself and apologize. Sure. Except better advice would be this:
Change the way you look at humans. Rid yourself of antiquated, backwater, ignorant notions. Go into hiding, for the benefit of all potential future diabetes suffers.

It is hard to believe that The Food Network and QVC didn’t know what Paula Deen was about…as long as it was kept quiet and the $$ rolled in for all. No respect for any of them anymore. (I didn’t have much for Paula anyway, especially when she made bank off the diabetes drug and Oprah, shame on you!)

Glad I’m not the only one who thinks this woman has appeared multiple times on tv in a condition that might politely be described as three sheets to the wind. When she flew to New York for the recently scheduled Today show appearance that she bailed on, it was reported that she didn’t show up because she was “exhausted”. I thought to myself if by “exhausted” they mean “sh*tfaced”, then I believe it.

That restaurant she mentioned IS in Nashville all right – Jimmy Kelly’s. A company holiday dinner was held there about 12 years ago. When we all started noticing that every waiter was an older gentleman wearing white shirt and black pants and black bowtie, we started feeling bad like we’ve gone to the wrong place. I had no idea before we stepped in there that it was like that. I felt terrible for the waiters, none of which were very young, and maybe it was just me, but it seemed like none of them were thrilled to be there. Of course it’s a free country and they don’t have to work there, but the vibe there upset me and ruined the meal. I just didn’t think it was okay at all to have an establishment capitalizing on “Old South” slave mentality.

I’m just reading the deposition now. Wow! Even without the N-word, there’s a whole lot of wrong in that deposition. It’s clear she is not willingly forthcoming in that deposition. There’s a whole lot of I don’t knows that make no sense at all. A lot of backtracking, blaming, misdirection and general covering her ass.

She hired an independent auditor to review what was going on at the restaurants, told her employee had enough evidence for a suit, and then pretended that she didn’t read the report and the auditors were gullible. That’s a whole truckload of denial and arrogance.

There’s so many gems like her saying her brother went to rehab even though he wasn’t actually an addict. His wife was and he was just supporting her. Um, yeah.

I’m from the rural south. Just want to add that I have known 100 women like Paula- her age down to mine (40) and younger. Women that do, for the most part, act with largesse in community and would never say the “N” word in a public setting but behind closed doors live in 1960. Styling themselves humanitarians for hiring minority help and paying them under the table (less than min wage) and making up the difference with cast off clothing and a ham at Christmas. Condescending, patronizing. If confronted they would deny it all. This crowd is the one truly ruffled by the Deen situation- they don’t consider Paula a redneck and think she is one of their own- and the fact that her true nature has been exposed.., well it could happen to anyone, right?

Not saying all southerners act/feel this way- just many of the ones I grew up with.

Sadly I have not been back to my hometown since December 2008 after I was called a disgrace to my family for voting for President Obama. Oh well!

There’s one aspect to this case that I am not understanding, and there appears to be many more details that we have not read to justify her contract expiration.

During Paula Deen’s deposition, she admitted to using the N-word many years ago. If she had done that and subsequently changed both her behavior and thinking, I suppose that is forgivable—and I am guessing that many people would have forgiven her—-had she changed. An admission to the use of a racial slur many decades ago would be very unfortunate, but—given a change in character and extensive time that had passed—that doesn’t seem to justify all-out firing by itself.

Granted, I realize that the lawsuit in question alleges that she and her brother continue to use those terms, and she claims now to deploy the use of such language in a humorous way to conveniently take away the sting to their meaning. I don’t know if the “humor” route was some legal approach or if she honestly believes that her use of the word in this manner is benign. Overall, her PR approach has been so clumsy and bumbling, that I’m inclined to think that she is completely ignorant to the effect of her language. She reminds me of a lot of southern women that passively-aggressively coat their banter with lots of sugar and charm in an effort to make “hay” or sound witty in conversation. I was born and raised in the south, and I have witnessed this approach firsthand.

With all of the above being said, the fact remains that Paula Deen does continue to use these words and while her use of the terms she now claims is at best an attempt at humor, and….at worst it is evidence of her continued ignorance to the effect that these words can have in creating a bad work environment.

There’s definitely much more to this story. That’s the part I am waiting for.

Celebitchy – I have to commend you for your request to keep things civil. Kudos to you.

My thoughts are that I’ve never used a racial slur or said any racist jokes. I just don’t find any of that necessary or amusing and cringe when others do. My dad, brother and nephew, however, do use racist language and jokes. I’ve always heard that people with low self-esteem are the ones that put others down because it makes them feel better about themselves.

The insanity was not settling this lawsuit before discovery began. She had an empire to protect, and even if she didn’t want to acknowledge or recognize the skeletons in her closet, her lawyers and PR group should have seen this coming after looking into the allegations.

The ironic thing is, she had TONS of chances to settle this lawsuit, but she and her brother Bubba decided to fight it.

In the Deep South even today, money walks. The rich people win, and the Deens are now wealthy and well-connected (in case you hadn’t already guessed, not too long ago they were trailer trash).

Paula and her brother most likely thought that they were untouchable and that they would win the case. In another context they would have been correct, but they severely misjudged the repercussions of the depositions and how their n-word behavior would appear to the rest of the country.

They should have just settled, but they were too arrogant and rich to do that and just thought she’d lose the case and that was it.

I’m glad she didn’t settle. Now the whole world knows her for what she is and for what she’s done and right-thinking people will finally be able to bear witness to the garbage that so many of her employees had to endure. Now, her deep-fried subway scrapings will be off the air and she’s being brought to book, thus ending her reign of terror to all but some cabal sad Antebellum ‘State’s Rights’ Fetishists. There’s a LOT of them, but a lot of people are better than that and their own senses of decency will get some exercise.

On this stuff, you don’t get a do-over. Paula Deen peaked a couple of years ago; Food Network was not going to renew her contract anyway. But her star has been steadily sinking before this debacle. I’ve been seeing her cookware selling for bargain prices at Big Lots for months now.

You all realize that Paula Deen is pleading “Scarlett O’Hara,” right? This is her mentality and she figures that since Scarlett is such a beloved figure in American literature, well then she can follow Scarlett’s racist example and everyone should love her, right? Except Scarlett was fictional, a b*tch, evil, and unsympathetic, and she deservedly lost everything. So, yeah. Deen is Scarlett all right. (And, yes, I read Mitchell’s book, so I fully understand the trashy character we “love to hate.”)

Ya know…this is what happens. I mean if you’re a celebrity, most of your success hinges on how much your public likes you, and no one said there wouldn’t be consequences for people finding out you’re a racist. (Not meaning to name-call, I just didn’t know any other way to put it.)

That being said though, she’s Paula Deen! She’s made enough money to sustain herself for the rest of her life. She should walk away with some dignity- she’s lost this one- and know that she’s going to be alright.

Oh my goodness. I’m just reading the original compliant and WOW! Good on this woman for suing!

Among many (many, many) other things, her bonuses were revoked when she got a divorce because the person in charge of them had a religious objection to the the ‘sin of divorce’. He also gave her a book about how women should be subservient to men and indicated it was his human resource policy. Wow.

The real issue is the hostile workplace claim. I can easily see Deen lacking understanding of that and being clueless about how to deal with such conflicts even if she does come to understand it. But that’s an opportunity for real discussion with a woman who is not so different than many others, if everybody can stop yelling at her and gleefully anticipating her bankruptcy for a few minutes. Would be nice to have off-camera engagements with her and others, for example. Real heart-to-hearts without the pressure of publicity.

The fact is that black-white racism, like other -isms, is an integral part of American culture. There are both malignant versions (e.g., KKK, lynchings, job discrimination, threats to our President both in tabloid comment sections and on Glenn Beck’s shows) and a sliding scale of benign versions (including racist language but also including people who always refer to “my black friend” but never to “my white friend”…). Just deciding intellectually that “I’m not a racist” is not enough, it’s in the air we breathe. Decades after Rosa Parks, we are still very much a society in transition. Deen’s clueless attitudes are a reflection of that, I have heard much worse from plenty of others who live and work in a multiracial environment and who even have multiracial close family. I always remember the man in Pennsylvania whose wife was asked by a pollster who they were voting for during Obama’s first run for the White House. The wife called to him to ask, and he yelled back “We’re voting for the n****r!”. The more benign forms of racism are complicated…. That doesn’t mean language isn’t important, just that humans don’t fit into neat little boxes and plenty of “general racists” keep making exceptions for individuals they know. If you really want to eradicate racism from American culture, you can’t afford to forget that.

Some day we will be past the transitional period and having African ancestry will just be interesting. I’m Irish, and at one time I would have been denied access to jobs and education on that basis. In the 1830s, the mayor of Boston said that the Irish would never be the intellectual and social equals of his people. The common feeling was that we were suited to be servants and ditchdiggers only but had to be constantly watched because we were lazy and untrustworthy. Things have changed. And don’t believe that myth of it being easier because we could “blend in” physically while Americans of African ancestry can’t. That’s putting the cart before the horse. In my teens, an old Dutch geezer knew I was Irish in an instant despite my very non-Irish last name and complete lack of a brogue. I asked him how he knew, and he said “You have the map of Ireland on your face.” When it was important to know who was Irish and who wasn’t – very few of us could pass for non-Irish. A lot of other things had to happen over many generations before finally nobody really cared and few could recognize the map of Ireland on anybody’s face.

Scary how Bubba and his sis are stereotypical Southern caricatures. From his drinking, beer belly, being inappropriate with the “women folk” and their unabashed use of the N word. They’re the epitome of what people think of when they envision a Southerner.

Keeping in line with these stereotypes I would not be surprised to learn that Bubba and sis have had an affair with each other.

And LMAO @ whoever asked if that was a cheeto sticking out of her neck in the second picture. LOL